my friend is not that which I see. What influences me in my friend is
not his body but his spirit. He influences me about as much in his
absence as in his presence. It would have been an ineffable experience
truly to have lived at that time--

"I think when I read the sweet story of old,
How when Jesus was here among men,
He took little children like lambs to His fold,
I should like to have been with Him then.

"I wish that His hand had been laid on my head,
That His arms had been thrown around me,
And that I had seen His kind look when he said,
'Let the little ones come unto me.'"

And yet, if Christ were to come into the world again, few of us
probably would ever have a chance of seeing Him. Millions of her
subjects in the little country of England have never seen their own
Queen. And there would be millions of the subjects of Christ who could
never get within speaking distance of Him if He were here. We remember
He said: "It is expedient for you (not _for Me_) that I go away";
because by going away He could really be nearer to us than He would
have been if He had stayed here. It would be geographically and
physically impossible for most of us to be influenced by His person
had He remained. And so our communion with Him is a spiritual
companionship; but not different from most companionships, which, when
you press them down to the roots, you will find to be essentially
spiritual.

All friendship, all love, human and Divine, is purely spiritual. It